You stand motionless in the backroom as Steven stares at you, his eyes ablaze.
"Alex!"
You hear Ray's call, but do nothing. You can't do anything. You're stuck, and you know it. And Steven knows it too.
"It's your fault!"
Before you know it, Steven is on top of you and taking you to the ground under his heavy body. You let out a terrified, muffled scream as he raises his fist above his head and strikes your abdomen, lifting it again to repeat the action.
"It's your fucking fault she's dead! You deserve to die!"
Again and again Steven hits you, and each time your body screams in pain. His fists, his knees, his elbows, his feet pound into you relentlessly. Over and over and over... But Steven is fully on top of you, there's no escape. And he's drunk, making everything ten times worse.
"Alex!"
You feel Steven lifted off of you for just a moment, but then hear him snarl, "Get off me you bastard!"
You don't see what happens, but you hear a loud crash and then the pain comes full force again. You close your eyes tight and lay where you are, too afraid to resist, to do anything. You can't protest. Steven would crush you.
"Did you hear me? It's your fucking fault she died! Your's! If you hadn't been away none of this would've happened!"
You feel a steel-toed boot connect with your rib cage, and the instant it does the wind is knocked out of you and you feel something within your body snap. You cry out in pain as blood travels down your face in various places and Steven continues to beat you senseless.
"Help! Somebody help!"
Ray scrambles up from his fallen position and races out of the backroom when he hears the bell over the front door toll.
"What's up Ray?" Gerard sets his dinner on the counter and Hope, Frank, and Bob file into the shop after him. Your cries are muffled, and Steven isn't yelling at the moment, making the shop slightly quiet.
"Hurry!" Ray beckons, and at that moment, you let out another muffled plea for help as Steven begins to kick you again, cursing all the way.
"You fucking bitch! She's gone because of you! This is your fault!" His fist connects with your jaw after a well-aimed punch and you feel is dislocate with a sickening crack. "I've wanted to kill you for so long! I've waited for too long to do this! I've kept all my anger inside, waiting for the right moment to make you pay for taking her away-"
"Hey!"
And suddenly, you feel Steven being lifted from you, and you take in a deep, shaking breath. Your eyes are closed, already too swollen to open, and you can feel yourself laying in a puddle of tears and blood...your own tears and blood.
The sound of a struggle rings out through the backroom but you can't move. Your body is in so much pain...
"Alex! Alex ohmigod... Hope! Hope call an ambulance!"
Someone drops down beside you and reaches out to touch you, and you cringe and let out a helpless moan when they do. All you can do is merely lay on your back, breathing heavily, wishing all the pain would go away.
"O...okay!"
"C...call the police too!" you hear someone say, and then a grunt in pain.
And then the sounds of fighting stop. Your fading hearing can pick up the sounds of heavy breathing and the shuffling of bodies, but that's it.
It hurts to breathe. It hurts to move. It hurts to do anything. You've never been in more pain all over your body in your entire life. You want it to stop. You wish it would stop. Why won't it stop?
"It's okay Alex, sh, everything's going to be okay. We're here for you."
You feel a gentle hand stroke your hair lovingly, but that is the very last thing you do feel, before your world turns black.
Ohmigod...
o.o
OH FUCK NO!
Mikey's Point of View
The wailing of sirens is the first thing to induce you to look out the front windows of Barnes and Noble, and when you do, you watch as three police cars race by, followed quickly by an ambulance.
Must've been an accident. You think, letting out a sigh as you look around the empty Barnes and Noble. James is having his break and you can't wait to get off in an hour to see Alex.
God I don't even have to be here! No one goes to a bookstore on Spring Break. You think in annoyance, picking at an invisible spot on the counter top. I wish Alex was here.
For a few minutes your mind drifts into oblivion, Alex being the only thing that fills your mind. Once and a while you smile, staring at the counter, and other times you blush. God, being apart from her is horrible, you hate the feeling. You want to skip the rest of work, go pick her up, and make love to her the rest of the night, and then be able to smile and kiss her the next morning.
You love her so much.
Your hear the rush of wind as someone enters Barnes and Noble in the lasting light of the day, and, snapping out of your haze, you lift your head and prepare to smile for the customer.
"Gerard?"
"Mi...Mikey...you've gotta...c...come now..." Gerard is extremely winded and flushed looking. His face has a few red marks on it and he isn't standing as straight as he normally does.
A surge of panic washes through you when you notice the look of horror in your brother's hazel-green eyes. "What? What's wrong?"
And then he utters the words you once hoped you'd never have to hear him say.
"Alex is in the hospital."
You choke on nothing, and have to steady yourself against the counter as your knees go weak. You look at your brother with wide eyes, speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say to that. Your heart beats dangerously slow and your hands start to shake uncontrollably as you stare at your brother, and he at you, panting for air.
And then panic takes over. You forget everything. You jump over the front counter and run out of Barnes and Noble with your brother in tow. You realize he must've ran here, because his car is no where in sight, so you start the long sprint to Wally's.
You can see the police cars, but there's no ambulance. Another wave of terror rushes through you, but you drown it. You have to find out what happened before anything.
Your friends and a few bystanders are crowded around the police cars as you run up, Ray holding a cloth over his eye as he talks to an officer. As you come to a sudden stop next to Hope, who is sobbing into Frank's shoulder, you look both police cars, and find one empty, and the other occupying a person handcuffed in the backseat. Your jaw instantly drops and you feel yourself utterly shocked when you see Steven sitting in the backseat, staring straight ahead with an indifferent look on his bloody face.
Gerard runs up next to you, wheezing as he doubles over, his hands on his knees. Bob looks over to you, extremely pale in the face, but before he can come over to you and explain what happened, an officer appears from Wally's.
"Who are you?" she asks, stopping beside you.
"M...Mikey Way." you breathe out.
The officer gives you a questioning look.
"Al...Alex's boyfriend."
The officer nods curtly once and you ask, still breathing heavily, "What happened?"
The officer sighs and looks down at a small notebook in her hands. "From what Mr. Toro told me, Alex was attacked by her stepfather. He was drunk and banged her up pretty bad; she's on her way to the hospital now."
The very blood in your veins comes to a stop. Your lungs are heaving with a great force, and you suddenly feel your asthma start to kick in. You let out a mighty cough and keel over, and Gerard looks at you with wide eyes as you continue to cough, choking on the very little air in your lungs.
"Are you all right sir?"
"Does he fucking look all right?" Gerard snaps, coming to your aide immediately. "Mikey where's your inhaler?"
You continue to cough and try to force air into your lungs, but it's becoming difficult. You quickly point to your jean's pocket and Gerard thrusts a hand in, grabbing your inhaler. He rams it into your face and you snatch it, quickly taking a gulp of relief, closing your eyes as your breath comes back to you.
"We've gotta," You pause to cough one last time. "Go to the hospital."
Gerard nods and the officer moves off to talk to Ray after she knows you'll be okay, along with the other officer he's still currently talking to. You shove your inhaler back into your pocket and start to move off to Gerard's Escort.
"C...can we come?"
You stop, as does Gerard, and turn to confront a red-faced Hope and a scared Frank, his arm around her shoulders for support. Bob is standing next to Frank, still pale in the face, and wondering the same thing as the other two.
What do you say to them?
Get in the car.
Yeah.
Come on.
I don't care.
Gerard makes it to the hospital in under ten minutes. All through the car ride you did your best to calm your nerves, but with no such luck. Your asthma kicks in again and you decide to keep your inhaler out this time, in case it's triggered again. The ride to the hospital is eerily silent, except for Hope's sniffles and wails, but you do your best to block them out. You also try to reject the negative thoughts that keep seeping into your mind, but it's so hard.
Just seeing Steven sitting in the back of that police car made you want to bust through the window and smash his head in. He had the aura around him that suggested he did nothing wrong, and it made you more furious then ever.
Why now? Why come after Alex now? For what reason?
There is no reason! He just attacked her! You think as Gerard pulls up to the front of the hospital. He flings his car carelessly into a handicapped parking space and you are the first out of the car, your brother the second to follow. You race for the front doors, the others jogging to keep up, your eyes set on your destination.
God, please let Alex be all right. You pray, erupting into the hospital and sprinting for the front desk.
"Alex Cooper was brought in a while ago. Where is she now?" you ask the receptionist, the others running up behind you, now out of breath.
The woman checks her computer. "Miss. Cooper is in the ER sir. You can sit and wait in the waiting room if you'd like."
Feeling your heart weaken, you turn away from the receptionist and close your eyes tightly, running a hand through your hair. Gerard turns slowly from the receptionist and brings a hand to his eyes, applying force to them in to relieve the pressure. The others watch you two sadly, not knowing what to do.
But Hope steps forward to you and gently wraps her arms around your torso, laying her head onto your chest. She closes her eyes, a few tears slipping from under her lashes, and she whispers, "She'll be all right Mikey. Please, don't worry."
:(
I hope so...
Gerard's Point of View
You wait for hours in the noisy waiting room. Ray shows up a little past eight, along with your grandmother Elena, but you still haven't contacted your parents. It grows darker with each minute that passes and your body becomes colder, knowing not how Alex is doing. Mikey asks the receptionist every fifteen minutes if there's any new developments, and, the patient thing she is, she merely shakes her head sadly each time.
No one talks to you, or each other. They keep to themselves mostly, except for Hope. She does her best to comfort your brother, but it seems he doesn't want solace. He paces, he sits restlessly, he stares at the floor for minutes straight, lost in his own thoughts. But you can't blame him, you know you'd be in the same position. And you almost are. Your nerves are just about shot. This whole incident worries the fucking shit out of you.
God, you remember seeing Alex getting hauled into the back of the ambulance; it was just too much. Blood splattered all over her clothes and exposed skin, and she was unconscious. Her body was limp and she was deathly ashen, cuts and bruises all over her face. You wanted to ride with her to the hospital, but no one would let you, saying her condition was too critical and you'd just be in the way.
Frank and Bob sit next to each other, looking around the cacophonic, crowded waiting room, their eyes wide with fear. You can tell by the way Frank's leg keeps bouncing and Bob's hands keep shaking that they're just as anxious as you are. Hope hasn't stopped crying since the incident, and you feel terrible not being able to comfort her, but what can you do? You need consoling too, and you don't think you could give Hope what you need. Ray is bruised and cut up as well, for he had been struggling with Steven before you, but he won't let anyone tend to him, not until he knows Alex is okay.
But you can't be too sure that she is.
Elena does her best to keep everyone from breaking down entirely; bringing them cups of coffee, small bags of chips, trying to reach Donna and Donald. And it seems to work, except on Mikey. He won't except anything. He snaps at people. He's quiet. And this scares you.
I know this is tearing him apart. You think tragically, looking at your shoes as you run a hand through your greasy hair. But goddamn it he's not the only one.
"Are you Alex's friends?"
After nearly four hours of waiting, someone finally comes. You jump up from your sitting position, but not before Mikey, who is already standing in front of the doctor.
"Yeah."
The doctor sticks out his hand and Mikey shakes it hurriedly. "I'm Dr. Knox." he introduces.
"Where's Alex? Is she okay?" Ray questions, standing beside Mikey.
Dr. Knox sighs and switches the clipboard under his arm to the other. "Alex is unable to see anyone right now." His eyes avert to the floor, and you see Hope bring a hand to her mouth out of the corner of your eye. Obviously Dr. Knox notices too because he says, "She suffered a lot of serious injuries, but she'll recover. She needs to spend at least a week here to fully recoup."
Almost everyone's eyes widen and Bob asks gently, "It's that bad?"
The Doctor nods solemnly and you vow then and there, the next time you see Steven, if he isn't in jail, you're going to kill him.
Mikey is visibly relieved though, as is most everyone else. You yourself feel the pressure lifted. Though that doesn't make anything better.
"When can we see her?" Hope asks, her voice raspy.
"I can't say, for sure, when, but you can come with me now and wait outside her room and I'll have a nurse alert you when it's okay to go in." suggests the Doctor.
"That's fine Dr. Knox, thank you." Elena says softly.
"Follow me then."
Naturally, you and Mikey are the first two to follow. The others trail behind you, eased, but exhausted. It's been a trying evening for everyone, and it will continue to be so until Alex smiles once again.
You end up waiting another hour and half.
There are a few scattered chairs lining the wall against Alex's room in the Intense Care Unit, but you don't take one. You allow your grandmother and Hope to do so, Frank along with Hope. He's been by her side the entire night, comforting her, and you're thankful for that, since you can't do it yourself.
There's a few wide windows allowing you all to gaze into Alex's room, but you can't see anything but nurses, and a pastel blue curtain drawn around Alex's bed. Her room is a larger one, with more machines, and that frightens you. It means Alex is hurt more worse than you initially thought.
You glance at your brother who is leaning against the wall beside Alex's door, his head facing the ground. His shivering hands are shoved into his jean pockets and his brown hair lays askew on top of his head. His eyes never leave the floor, and you can tell that Mikey is slowly dying inside.
Finally, around nine thirty that night, the last nurse leaves Alex's room, slowly and quietly shutting the door behind her. Mikey looks up hopefully and asks, "Can I go in now?"
Hesitantly, the nurse nods, and Mikey instantly moves to the door and grabs the handle, roughly flinging the door open. The nurse moves away, and you see from the corner of your eye Hope trying to move up to enter the room next.
"No." you croak. "Let Mikey go in alone."
Hope looks at you shamefacedly, but nods once and moves to her seat once more. You don't follow her movements, but instead turn to face Alex's room, peering through the thick, hospital windows. You watch as Mikey carefully draws back the curtain around Alex's bed, revealing the girl lying within. A heart monitor stands beside her bed, hooked up to a computer that controls a lot of other medical machines surrounding her bed.
Your heart retches with pain and you immediately feel the urge to weep. Alex... Dear God...
Her face is bruised so much that you can barely tell it's her. A thick bandage is wrapped around her head and there's a neck brace circling her neck. Her arms house many different types of tubes and the blankets of the hospital bed are drawn up to her chest; only her arms are left bare. She looks horrible, and you hate to admit it. Her eyes hold no more luster, her skin is ashen, and her hair has lost it's sheen, in so short a time. She looks more fragile then ever, lying on that bed, watching Mikey as he slowly sits in the lone chair beside her bed.
You feel your throat tighten as Mikey slowly reaches out to grasp Alex's hand, lacing his fingers with her own. Alex's emerald, swollen eyes shine with tears as she tries her best to hold Mikey's hand back, but fails.
Mikey leans forward a bit and your own eyes fill with tears as you watch him plant a soft kiss on Alex's bandaged forehead, and a tear slips from her eye, one that she has no control over. Mikey still holds onto her hand tightly, and you watch as he brings that to his lips next, careful not to cause her any pain.
Mikey then leans back in his chair and just watches his love, slowly withering away on the hospital bed she will call home for a week, maybe more. He won't let go of her hand, not for the life of him. Your throat becomes tighter and your vision blurs slightly as you watch the two, so close, yet so far away.
And then, for the first time in a long time, you watch Mikey bow his head, and cry.